Cho Min, the daughter of disgraced former Justice Minister and current Korea Innovation Party leader Cho Kuk, was found guilty of university admission fraud Friday. The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Cho to a fine of 10 million won ($7,500). She was indicted for document forgery and obstruction of business for allegedly collaborating with her mother to submit fabricated documents, including an admission form, a cover letter and a commendation letter, to Pusan National University's G

The International Labour Organization urged South Korea to resolve the ongoing dispute between the government and doctors through dialogue and refrain from violence or taking coercive measures, amid the continued standoff in the nation's health care sector. In a written response to The Korea Herald Wednesday night, the United Nations agency, whose goal is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labor standards, stressed that legislation allowing workers to be called

한국 정부가 전공의들에게 업무개시 명령을 내린 데 이어 형사처벌 가능성을 거론하는 가운데, 국제노동기구(ILO)는 "강제노동금지 예외 상황은 매우 제한적으로 적용돼야한다"며 원칙을 재강조했다. 20일 저녁 ILO는 코리아헤럴드에 '서면 답변'을 보내 현재 한국에서 벌어지고 있는 정부와 전공의 간 갈등 상황을 유의 깊게 바라보고 있다며 이 같이 밝혔다. ILO는 "우리는 개인이 ILO 측에 제기한 진술이나 불만 사항을 받아들이지 않는다"고 했다. 이는 앞서 대한전공의협의회가 한국 정부의 업무개시명령에 대해 ILO의 강제노동 금지 협약(제29호) 위반이라며 긴급개입을 요청한 데 대한 답변이다. 즉 전공의협의회는 요청 자격이 없어 긴급개입이 불가하며, 그 어떤 공식적 반응도 낼 수 없다는 것이다. ILO에 따르면 개입 요청 자격은 ILO의 노사정 구성원인 정부 또는 국내외 대표적인 노사단체에만 존재한다. ILO는 이를 강조하며 한국에서

Raj, an Indian resident of South Korea for nine years, was shocked during a visit to Busan when a club bouncer bluntly informed him and his friends, "You cannot enter because you are Indian." Despite their objections, they were directed to a neighboring club, only to encounter a notice explicitly barring entry to Indian and Pakistani men. The incident gained widespread attention after Raj's video of the discriminatory notice went viral, courtesy of Indian YouTuber Nikita Thakur, w

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Monday that the city would provide subsidies of up to 200 million won ($150,000) per firm to foreign-invested enterprises -- legal structures in which overseas-based companies can participate in the economy here -- in growth industries and that hire six or more new employees. Under the subsidy plan, the new employees must be Korean nationals and retained until 2026. To be eligible, enterprises must have invested in one of the city’s eight new gro

The Seoul Central District Court handed down a verdict of guilty to the chair of a civic organization who had been accused of bringing in and selling North Korean novels, officials said Sunday. The court found Jung Ik-hyeon, 60, chair of the South and North Korean Economic Federation Unification Farming Cooperative, of breaching the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act, sentencing him to pay a fine of 3 million won ($2,250). Jung was accused of bringing North Korean novels and USB flash dri

A group of medical interns and residents who left hospitals in protest of the government’s planned medical school admissions hike has demanded the International Labor Organization, a labor rights watchdog under the United Nations, intervene in Seoul's back-to-work order, it said on Thursday. “The government is threatening junior doctors to return to work by mentioning suspension of their licenses, a forced labor prohibited by the ILO. Accordingly, we have asked the ILO to interv

Labor groups have reacted with anger to a report by South Korea’s central bank that proposed to bring in foreign care workers and pay them less than the minimum wage. “The bank’s suggestions of paying migrant workers cheaper than the minimum wage are discriminatory and anti-human rights ideas,” said Citizens‘ Solidarity for Securing the Publicness of Care and Realizing the Right to Care, a major coalition comprised of the country’s two umbrella trade unions, t

Nearly 75 percent of South Koreans oppose the government moving toward easing laws related to marriage between blood relatives, a recent poll shows. According to data released on Monday by the Ministry of Justice, 74 percent of respondents said they think the government should prohibit marriage between blood relatives within eight degrees of relations, or "chon" in Korean, as it currently does. Fifteen percent of respondents said it should only prohibit marriage between blood relatives

Human resource managers at major companies in Korea think their workers spend approximately 17 percent of their working hours, around 80 minutes, on other activities, a survey showed on Monday. According to the survey by the Korea Enterprises Federation, human resource managers of the largest 100 companies by sales rated their office workers’ productivity at an average of 82.7 out of 100. The survey revealed that HR managers think their office workers spend an average of around 1 hour and

South Korea's Justice Ministry on Friday lifted the ban on leaving the country placed on former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, who has been named ambassador to Australia, amidst ongoing controversy surrounding the appointment. The Justice Ministry announced that its travel ban review committee has determined that Lee's formal complaint against his travel restriction was justified. The ministry elaborated that the ban on him leaving the country had been repeatedly extended without any o

The suicide of a Gimpo city official, who became the target of malicious complaints after their personal information was leaked online, has sparked controversy in Korean society. In response, some netizens are pledging to reveal the identity of cyberbullies, shedding light on the concerning prevalence of doxing in South Korea. As of Friday, the personal information of the user who revealed the late official’s name, department and phone number has been posted to many online communities. &ld

Kim, a 33-year-old woman living in Seoul, was taken by surprise when she found out she was pregnant late last year. With no intention of getting married or having a child of her own, she began searching for hospitals that would terminate the pregnancy for her. While searching online, Kim encountered numerous advertisements and blogs listing prices for abortions by vacuum aspiration. The prices varied according to the stage of pregnancy: 600,000 won ($450) before week 7 and 900,000 won before wee

South Korea should come up with various measures to attract foreign nationals to work here as care workers, as the country faces a shortage in the sector to care for its rapidly aging society, a report by the Bank of Korea argued, Tuesday. The cost of hiring a care worker at a nursing home or other facilities was estimated at 3.7 million won ($2,775) per month as of last year, according to the report titled “Measures to alleviate the care service labor shortage and cost burden” relea

The Constitutional Court has unanimously upheld the constitutionality of a law restricting the workweek to a 52-hour maximum, the court said Monday. In its decision delivered Thursday, the nine-member court unanimously ruled that the Labor Standards Act, Article 53, Section 1, specifying that the 52-hour workweek system is legitimate and appropriate as it is designed to protect the health and safety of workers by reducing actual working hours and discouraging overtime work on holidays. Under the

South Korean workers’ actual annual working hours have decreased by nearly 200 hours over 10 years, yet people here still work far longer than the average of the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on Sunday, the average monthly working hours of employees in South Korea stood at 156.2 hours in 2023, down 2.5 hours from 158.7 hours in 2022. In 2013, the average monthly worki

The debate on consanguineous marriage is heating up, as the government appears to be moving toward easing laws related to intrafamily marriage. Currently, South Korea prohibits marriage between blood relatives within eight degrees of relations ("chon" in Korean), according to the Civil Act, Article 809 and Article 815. That means that Koreans may not marry third cousins -- their grandparents' cousins' grandchildren -- or closer relatives. Article 809, Section 1 states that &l

The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Wednesday announced that the city will operate a tethered helium balloon ride, dubbed Seoul’s Moon, at the Yeouido Hangang Park starting in June. The balloon will take visitors to a height of 150 meters, offering an elevated view of the capital from noon to night. Such attractions are in service at many famous tourist spots worldwide, including Disneyland Paris and the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, according to Seoul. The tethered balloon, create

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday remained set on his push for an increase in the annual medical school enrollment quota of 2,000, saying the number "is non-negotiable." "No excuses can justify (doctors') collective action of taking people's health hostage and posing a threat to people's lives," Yoon told some 100 participants including mayors and provincial governors at the Central and Local Government Cooperation Council meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, the former presidential of

Foreign embassies in South Korea can now process and submit applications from their citizens claiming industrial accident compensation, the Korea Worker's Compensation and Welfare Service announced Monday. Previously, only the victims themselves, the victims’ direct relatives and certified labor attorneys could apply for compensation on behalf of the victims. For instance, the bereaved family of a Cambodian woman in her 30s who was found dead while residing in an unheated plastic gree